I had a little problem related to my exercise; I guess it is somehow related to this topic. Exercising with music feels more pleasant than without music. But I want to measure how much I do, and when I count in mental voice: “one, two, three...”, my inner voice ruins the music. It would be nice if I could just exercise without counting and someone else would count for me, but I don’t have a volunteer or a device to do that. So I tried to find another method of counting.
An obvious choice was to use fingers, unless they are involved in the exercise. I can count to 20 by opening and then closing fingers. (In theory there are 1024 binary numbers available, but quick binary increments need too much attention.) This is a good compromise, because if after each twenty I say “ONE”, “TWO”, “THREE” etc., I can listen to most of the music and when it’s over I can do the necessary math (e.g. “THREE” + 15 is 3×20+15=75). I need to say these words (silently, but move my lips), otherwise it’s very easy to forget where I was. If I am unable to fully stretch my fingers, even imagining the movement and increasing the tension in the finger is enough; unless the fingers are under big pressure e.g. when doing push-ups.
Another option is to visualize numbers. I imagine big neon numbers flashing in front of me. But this is somehow a bit difficult. I suspect that I use a small voice subroutine when incrementing the visual numbers.
Yet another option is this: It is easy to “count without counting” up to 4. A larger sequence can be somehow divided into fours. It is like I am doing “@@@@, @@@@, @@@@, @@@@” and later I can calculate it was 16. I guess this is some nonverbal voice, or rhythm, perhaps with some kinestetic component, I am not sure. If I combine it with a visual system, it is like this: I do “@@@@” and then I imagine a light at upper-left corner of my mental screen; more “@@@@” and another light at upper-center of my screen, etc. until there are 3×3=9 lights, and then I do another “@@@@” and it’s together 40. If 40 is not enough, I say “FORTY” and start again. This system is usable up to one hundred, which is enough for this purpose; and it leaves my audio channel free to enjoy the music.
(After reading what I wrote, I wish I would put so much creativity into more serious tasks in my life.)
I had a little problem related to my exercise; I guess it is somehow related to this topic. Exercising with music feels more pleasant than without music. But I want to measure how much I do, and when I count in mental voice: “one, two, three...”, my inner voice ruins the music. It would be nice if I could just exercise without counting and someone else would count for me, but I don’t have a volunteer or a device to do that. So I tried to find another method of counting.
An obvious choice was to use fingers, unless they are involved in the exercise. I can count to 20 by opening and then closing fingers. (In theory there are 1024 binary numbers available, but quick binary increments need too much attention.) This is a good compromise, because if after each twenty I say “ONE”, “TWO”, “THREE” etc., I can listen to most of the music and when it’s over I can do the necessary math (e.g. “THREE” + 15 is 3×20+15=75). I need to say these words (silently, but move my lips), otherwise it’s very easy to forget where I was. If I am unable to fully stretch my fingers, even imagining the movement and increasing the tension in the finger is enough; unless the fingers are under big pressure e.g. when doing push-ups.
Another option is to visualize numbers. I imagine big neon numbers flashing in front of me. But this is somehow a bit difficult. I suspect that I use a small voice subroutine when incrementing the visual numbers.
Yet another option is this: It is easy to “count without counting” up to 4. A larger sequence can be somehow divided into fours. It is like I am doing “@@@@, @@@@, @@@@, @@@@” and later I can calculate it was 16. I guess this is some nonverbal voice, or rhythm, perhaps with some kinestetic component, I am not sure. If I combine it with a visual system, it is like this: I do “@@@@” and then I imagine a light at upper-left corner of my mental screen; more “@@@@” and another light at upper-center of my screen, etc. until there are 3×3=9 lights, and then I do another “@@@@” and it’s together 40. If 40 is not enough, I say “FORTY” and start again. This system is usable up to one hundred, which is enough for this purpose; and it leaves my audio channel free to enjoy the music.
(After reading what I wrote, I wish I would put so much creativity into more serious tasks in my life.)